This is the first in a series of articles I plan to do on collectors and collecting art. Stay posted, more to come!
The similarity among art collectors is simply this: They are all different. Over the years I have had opportunities to talk to art collectors – in galleries, at openings, at museums, and some in the course of purchasing my art pieces and in visiting their homes. Aside from the value of the art, there is one common distinction - their passion for the art they have acquired and the story they have to tell about it. I was recently fortunate to have individual conversations with art collectors Robin Lipman, Paul Thomas and Debra McGinty-Poteet.
The similarity among art collectors is simply this: They are all different. Over the years I have had opportunities to talk to art collectors – in galleries, at openings, at museums, and some in the course of purchasing my art pieces and in visiting their homes. Aside from the value of the art, there is one common distinction - their passion for the art they have acquired and the story they have to tell about it. I was recently fortunate to have individual conversations with art collectors Robin Lipman, Paul Thomas and Debra McGinty-Poteet.
Robin Lipman’s collecting began in the 1970’s with a purchase
of a $50.00 piece of art by an instructor at a college in Florida and has
continued collecting on throughout the following years as a result of her
extensive travels around the globe. Lipman relies on her instincts and love of particular
art pieces as her guide. She says that though she has purchased from galleries,
she has never sought art advice for collecting and does not collect for
investment. She collects art pieces that span everything that is ‘red’, to
objects that are tomatoes (going back to her roots of her father who farmed
tomatoes) to recycled sculptures made from plastic bottles and paint, to
sculpture, assemblage, tapestries, paintings both representational and abstract,
Vargas girl calendars of the 1930’s, drawings by ‘outsider’ artists, to the
work of regional and local artists. She has also had art built into the
structure of her home, including mosaic and sculpture in her outdoor patio to a
fireplace with a myriad of objects of varying sizes and shapes embedded into
the concrete of the mantel. Lipman says that the commissioned works of
portraits of herself and her personal items of significance are among her
favorites in her collection. Lipman has created customized spaces and lighting
in various areas of her home to accommodate specific works of art and extends
work into all areas of her home including the bathrooms and laundry room.
Paul Thomas told me that while his parents had an interest
in the arts – his mother was a pianist and father did drawings and made his own
complicated Halloween masks, his own interest in art didn’t surface until college when he was exposed to art history.
His first art purchase was of the poster Uncle Sam “I Want You” – he was drawn
to illustrative representational work which, other than for one abstract
sculpture, has followed him to this day, some 40 years of collecting later. For
a long time he stuck to collecting posters which were affordable and easy to
transport until he was more settled into a home. Thomas sites posters as his
‘gateway’ into collecting art. As the years went on, he began to buy paintings
focused on the landscape, Plein Air, portraits and sculpture. His one rule was
“buy the best you can afford”. Thomas
buys from galleries and dealers but depends on what he calls his ‘critical eye’
for good work and maintains that he has never bought for investment or profit but
wanted work that was good quality. He feels he has an obligation and
responsibility to protect each of his artworks by placing them in the proper
lighting and dryness/humidity areas and framing everything with the highest
quality materials. Thomas stresses the importance of cataloguing each piece of
art with information about when and where it was purchased including receipts,
and any repairs made. He feels there is also the responsibility of handing the
art down to family members in the future. He believes that living with art is a
privilege and states “Good art grows on you, and if it doesn’t, you should give
it away or sell it.”
Debra McGinty-Poteet, along with her husband Larry Poteet,
began collecting out of mutual emotional need. Debra describes art collecting
as having started out as “art therapy” for she and Larry as a couple. Their
first of three daughters was born with severe developmental delays. They
decided to keep her at home which Poteet describes as having been a huge
emotional drain on themselves and their relationship. Their weekend ‘respites’
where they had outside caregivers, afforded them time to get out of the house,
and then living in Los Angeles, they began frequenting art museums and
galleries. As a young couple just
beginning to collect art, a few galleries took them ‘under their wing’, carefully
educating them about fine art, art history and what to look for in collecting
artwork. Along with developing this
circle of friends in the art world, - ‘older’ folks who helped educate their
‘eye’,they did a lot of traveling to New York, Washington D.C.,
and Europe for work and vacation. Their first purchase were three small works on
paper by Milton Avery. In collecting emerging artists, Poteet noted, it became
an ‘intellectual guessing game’ of who would succeed. Their collected work spans
international 20th century and contemporary artists with paintings,
sculpture, works on paper, drawings, and assemblage. Their collection includes
works on paper by Picasso, Matisse, Joan Mitchell, Sally Michael Avery, and Antonio Tapias, and southern California
notables including Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, and Tony DeLap. Debra and
Larry Poteet have made friends with several of the artists they collect and
believe strongly about showcasing artists they believe in as much as possible.
They have been significantly involved in the San Diego Art Fair and collect the
work of many local artists. As a couple, they sometimes have differing views of
particular artists and their work, but Debra says it has sparked many healthy
debates about art and they sometimes buy art independently that they respond to
in some individual important way. When asked if she had advice for new
collectors, Debra tells them to educate themselves about art – ‘don’t be lazy’
or depend on dealers or galleries to select art or artists to buy. Poteet also
noted that while collecting can be a ‘wonderful adventure’, it is also a
responsibility.
Robin Lipman, Paul Thomas and Debra and Larry Poteet have
each been collecting for over 30 years. They each took differing paths in terms of why they collect,
what they collect and their methods of collecting, however they are all
remarkably similar in their commitment to the work they have collected - in terms of
the responsibility of taking care of the work and in their passion for visual art and how it can enrich and change people’s lives.
From the collection of Debra and Larry Poteet:
*Questions about the Poteet collection can be directed to: debramcpot1@gmail.com
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| Marcus Ramirez War dyptich cam coloring of vinyl on aluminum and automotive paint, enamel on metal |
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| Study of Byron David Hockney lithograph |
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| Gathering Twiggs Eugene Higgins drypoint etching |
From the collection of Robin Lipman:
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| Red Room Grant Pecoff acrylic painting |
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| Tomatoes Don't Figure Into My Dietary Regimen More Than Normal |
